{"id":3977,"date":"2016-01-13T14:22:07","date_gmt":"2016-01-13T19:22:07","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.dougsbriefcase.com\/blog\/?p=3977"},"modified":"2016-01-13T14:22:07","modified_gmt":"2016-01-13T19:22:07","slug":"sotu-with-malice-toward-some","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.dougsbriefcase.com\/blog\/sotu-with-malice-toward-some\/","title":{"rendered":"SOTU<\/span>: With Malice Toward Some"},"content":{"rendered":"

<\/p>

\"President<\/a>

Pres\u00adi\u00addent Oba\u00adma used his last State of the Union address to decry divi\u00adsive\u00adness he helped insti\u00adgate. [Cred\u00adit: CNN<\/span>]<\/p><\/div>Com\u00adplet\u00ading his sev\u00adenth year as the world\u2019s most pow\u00ader\u00adful politi\u00adcian, Pres\u00adi\u00addent Barack Oba\u00adma used his final State of the Union address<\/a> to tell us what is wrong with pol\u00adi\u00adtics: his polit\u00adi\u00adcal opponents.\n

The Pres\u00adi\u00addent doesn\u2019t debate his foes; he diag\u00adnoses them.  They are, the Pres\u00adi\u00addent told us, in the clutch\u00ades of irra\u00adtional fear \u2013 of the future, of change, of their own coun\u00adtry\u00admen \u2013 and they instill fear, igno\u00adrance and hate in their followers.<\/p>\n

They want to \u201cslam the brakes on change\u201d and believe the nation\u2019s glo\u00adry can be restored \u201cif we just got some group or idea that was threat\u00aden\u00ading Amer\u00adi\u00adca under con\u00adtrol.\u201d  They urge us \u201cto fall back into tribes, to scape\u00adgoat fel\u00adlow cit\u00adi\u00adzens who don\u2019t look like us, or pray like us, or vote like we do, or share the same background.\u201d<\/p>\n

The Pres\u00adi\u00addent, by con\u00adtrast, embraces the future and cel\u00ade\u00adbrates change.  For him, all change is good (except cli\u00admate change).  Change is History\u2019s invis\u00adi\u00adble hand, nudg\u00ading human\u00adi\u00adty along the gild\u00aded path of progress.  He knows how to make \u201cchange work for us,\u201d see\u00ading \u201coppor\u00adtu\u00adni\u00adty\u201d where oth\u00aders see only \u201cper\u00adil.\u201d<\/p>\n

What the Pres\u00adi\u00addent doesn\u2019t see \u2013 what he is inca\u00adpable of see\u00ading \u2013 is that his harsh mis\u00adchar\u00adac\u00adter\u00adi\u00adza\u00adtion of those with whom he dis\u00adagrees is a major rea\u00adson he is leav\u00ading the coun\u00adtry more divid\u00aded than he found it.  His assump\u00adtion that he is smarter and more right\u00adeous than his oppo\u00adnents is so embed\u00added in his con\u00adscious\u00adness that he is com\u00adplete\u00adly unaware of it.<\/p>\n

Even in his rare moments of humil\u00adi\u00adty, he finds it impos\u00adsi\u00adble to assume a share of the blame for the divi\u00adsive\u00adness he con\u00addemns.  He said that \u201cran\u00adcor and sus\u00adpi\u00adcion between the par\u00adties has got\u00adten worse instead of bet\u00adter\u201d dur\u00ading his tenure, as though he were an observ\u00ader of the divi\u00adsive\u00adness and not a par\u00adtic\u00adi\u00adpant in it.<\/p>\n

He said that \u201ca pres\u00adi\u00addent with the gifts of Lin\u00adcoln or Roo\u00adsevelt might have bet\u00adter bridged the divide.\u201d  But the President\u2019s fail\u00adure isn\u2019t due to a lack of gifts.  He is a man of extra\u00ador\u00addi\u00adnary abil\u00adi\u00adty and achieve\u00adment. His sym\u00adbol\u00adic sig\u00adnif\u00adi\u00adcance as the first African-Amer\u00adi\u00adcan Pres\u00adi\u00addent unique\u00adly posi\u00adtioned him to be a uni\u00adfy\u00ading fig\u00adure.  Instead, he chose \u2013 and choos\u00ades to the last \u2014 to breed divi\u00adsion by dis\u00admiss\u00ading his crit\u00adics as pho\u00adbic, fool\u00adish and malev\u00ado\u00adlent.  It\u2019s not that he is inca\u00adpable of unit\u00ading the coun\u00adtry, it\u2019s that he delights in exploit\u00ading its divisions.<\/p>\n

Lin\u00adcoln presided over a coun\u00adtry that was lit\u00ader\u00adal\u00adly divid\u00aded, riv\u00aden by a con\u00adfed\u00ader\u00ada\u00adcy that denied his legit\u00adi\u00adma\u00adcy and took up arms against the Union.  He could have used the occa\u00adsion of his sec\u00adond inau\u00adgur\u00adal address<\/a> to ver\u00adbal\u00adly thrash his ene\u00admies, whose mil\u00adi\u00adtary defeat was imminent.<\/p>\n

Instead, he tem\u00adpered his judg\u00adment against the con\u00adfed\u00ader\u00adates, even those who had held slaves.  \u201cIt may seem strange that any men should dare to ask a just God\u2019s assis\u00adtance in wring\u00ading their bread from the sweat of oth\u00ader men\u2019s faces; but let us judge not, that we be not judged.\u201d  He called his coun\u00adtry\u00admen to exhib\u00adit \u201cmal\u00adice toward none\u201d and \u201cchar\u00adi\u00adty for all,\u201d and \u201cto care for him who shall have borne the bat\u00adtle,\u201d regard\u00adless of which side of the bat\u00adtle they had joined.<\/p>\n

Such char\u00adi\u00adty and restraint were miss\u00ading from the President\u2019s address, as from much of our polit\u00adi\u00adcal dis\u00adcourse.  That is trag\u00adic, but we can draw com\u00adfort from the fact that last night\u2019s state of the union address was his last.<\/p>\n

Here\u2019s hop\u00ading that next year\u2019s speech is Lincolnesque.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Com\u00adplet\u00ading his sev\u00adenth year as the world\u2019s most pow\u00ader\u00adful politi\u00adcian, Pres\u00adi\u00addent Barack Oba\u00adma used his final State of the Union address to tell us what is wrong with pol\u00adi\u00adtics: his polit\u00adi\u00adcal opponents.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":3981,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"nf_dc_page":"","wp_typography_post_enhancements_disabled":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_feature_clip_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"nfd_image_url":"","nfd_onboarding_generated":"","footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2},"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[1172,206,19,159],"tags":[1267,1266,1190,1265],"class_list":["post-3977","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-2016-presidential-election","category-partisanship","category-politics","category-president-obama","tag-lincoln","tag-politics","tag-president-obama","tag-sotu"],"aioseo_notices":[],"aioseo_head":"\n\t\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t